British American Tobacco (BAT) asked Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM), the Brazilian securities exchange regulator, to authorize a public tender offer for the rest of cigarette maker Souza Cruz, the company said.

As previously announced, the offer to shareholders of the 24.7 per cent of Souza Cruz that BAT does not own would be BRL 26.75 (EUR 8.35) per share, which would value the stake at about EUR 3.1 billion. BAT said it could delist Souza Cruz if the deal goes through. CVM approval would allow BAT to table an offer, a decision the company says it has not yet made.
Separately, BAT announced it would replace auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) this year because of proposed litigation against the accounting firm by a BAT subsidiary. According to The Independent newspaper, BAT has taken PwC to court as the result of a possible USD 1 billion (EUR 893 million) environmental bill involving one of its US subsidiaries, Appleton Papers Division, which could make BAT liable for some of the cleanup cost.